New Delhi: The Modi government has finally announced that it will present the Union budget on February 1. The budget session may start in January.
The idea behind bringing forward the budget date, according to the government, is so that ministries and state governments can begin disbursing funds from the beginning of the financial year.
At the moment, with the budget being presented at the end of February, several processes, including the vote on account, result in states being able to disburse funds only by late May.
Advancing the Budget date will allow them to release funds by April.
The government had already merged the railway budget with the general budget.